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Tuesday, 30 April 2013

If you play violin and you play Zelda, you will probably know all about Lindsey Stirling. I just have no idea how she can dance and play at the same time, but she's a born performer. (I, on the other hand, play like a dead tree on a windless day.)

Her collaboration with Pentatonix, a cover of Radioactive by Imagine Dragons, is just stunning. I've always known that the cello is the most badass of string instruments, but when you grunge it all up a bit...

Saturday, 27 April 2013

When it's good, it's damn good. Finally, an episode that reminds me why I bother watching a series that is, most weeks, a waste of time. I loved the story of the salvager brothers and their android. I loved the mysterious monsters hidden in the depths of the TARDIS. I loved the secrets and the reveals and the "secrets keep us safe" and the accusations and the paradoxes. If you're going to watch one episode from this series, make it this one.

If you want more screenies, try the Doctor Who tag at the top of the right sidebar. Or just click here!

I hope you're having an alright weekend. So far I've done two mechanics papers, a chemistry paper, and almost had a meltdown over juggling violin and revision. Which, by the way, is impossible.

Thursday, 25 April 2013

Nothing rivals the delicate intricacy of blue and white porcelain. There is evidence of the blue and white patterns in China as early as the ninth century though the true porcelain was only fully developed in the 1300s. Since then, it has become iconic.

Blue and white porcelain in Chinese is 青花, which I read literally means 'blue flowers'. I always thought 青 was green, but I asked my mum and it turns out that 青 can be different colours depending on context.

As well as flowers, common motifs include clouds, grapes, lotus flowers and cranes. Influence from Islam means some wares have painted on them Persian or Arabic characters. Usually the pigment is cobalt(II) oxide, which is potentionally poisonous in large amounts.

Not many of us wear ballgowns on a daily basis, but there are some stunning dresses to be found in high street shops. I genuinely doubt anyone could guess the prices of them by these pictures alone, but it just goes to show that for prints at least, there are things to buy in every price range.

Tuesday, 23 April 2013

After a terrible start to the series, Who is really taking its time picking itself up. The past couple of episodes I found to be mostly mediocre. I enjoyed the first half of Hide but things always get boring after the reveal. I took these screenshots from iPlayer HD myself, so if you want to post them elsewhere, please link back to me!

Sunday, 21 April 2013

Mercury's chemical symbol is Hg from hydrargyrum, 'silver water', derived from Greek. It's most well-known for being the only metal that's liquid at standard temperature and pressure (0 °C, 1 bar), and for being mistaken for an elixir of life by the first emperor of China.

Metallic bonding can be illustrated as a giant lattice of positive metal ions surrounded by a mobile sea of delocalised electrons. These delocalised electrons are responsible for many of metal's electrical conductivity, malleability and ductility: they carry charge, and allow the positive metal ions can slide over each other to be moulded or stretched into wire.

Mercury has a low melting point because its valence electrons (bonding electrons) are not shared readily - the intermolecular bonds are weak and take very little energy to break. The electron sea is very thin, giving the metal poor electrical and thermal conductivity. Nevertheless, mercury's uniform expansion rate means it's good for going into thermometers.

Over thirteen times denser than water, mercury is a bioaccumulative toxin - once it gets in your body by inhalation, ingestion or absorption through the skin, it stays there and can build up over time. Mercury irreversibly inhibits selenoenzymes, which prevent and reverse
oxidative damage to the brain and endocrine (hormone-secreting) organs, and symptoms of mercury poisoning include headaches, nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting and chromosomal damage.

Metal teeth fillings are amalgam, which is an alloy of 50% mercury. Amalgam fillings have not been proven to cause mercury poisoning, but some people have them replaced with composite or ceramic fillings for the placebo effect anyway. I've held a bottle of mercury - it was probably around 400ml? - and it is staggeringly heavy!

All this chemistry about mercury links rather nicely with the metallic trend. I know this post is called 'silver water', and it really is an attractive-looking substance, but for the love of life, don't drink it!

Saturday, 20 April 2013

How did you like this week's Doctor Who? I thought it was alright, though monsters and ghosts are always so much more scary when you don't know what, where and when they are. I'm going to take some screenshots from iPlayer after doing a mechanics paper, and then I'm going to play Last Story 'til I can't keep my eyes open any more.

I'm busy with revision and all that jazz so I'm relying on a backlog of looks - as if I'm ever up to date with posting outfits - so despite the gorgeous weather today, you'll have to make do with the snow from a few weeks ago.

Jacket: River Island, Asos

Dress: Parisian, New Look

Tights: Tesco

Boots: Doc Martens, eBay

I still feel quite self-conscious in this jacket - I haven't gotten used to how loud it is, especially the back. It also makes me realise that pretty much all of my dresses are very noisy too. Perhaps I should try to keep an eye on my ratio of basics to statement pieces in the future.

Thursday, 18 April 2013

That interview with the stunning Emilka P. was picked for this week's Links à la Mode! The site's forum has been taken down for good, since, like many other fashion communities, it's rotten to the core with self-promoters. No actual discussion going on there at all. LALM is now a submission form, which is suiting me just fine.

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World Click

By Jennine Jacob

Does it matter where you blog from? I say this as I've lived in four cities during my blogging career, and to tell the truth, it kind of does, but it also kind of doesn't. This week Style Bizarre asks that question to a few bloggers about their experiences with blogging and location. We also travel around to Australia to check out their MBFW, how Man Repeller got us thinking about Japan (again), about how female politicians across the globe relate to fashion (should they?) and where you can get globally conscious accessories. As always it's a mixed bag, so enjoy!

Monday, 15 April 2013

I'm probably going to be a bit slow at blogging these few weeks, and not just because of the onslaught of exams. As I mentioned before, I got into The Last Story, and I am coming to regret it very much.

All the blokes are immensely ugly in The Last Story, but the girls are okay. I love Syrenne, the feisty drunk; and despite their ugliness, I like Lowell (he has a wicked grin and a delicious Scottish accent) and Yurick (androgynous emo eyepatch kid) as well.

The main character and his girlfriend are so annoying, they should not be allowed to exist. Their soppy romantic scenes cause me physical pain. I curl up on the sofa and wait for it to end.

But this game doesn't take itself seriously all of the time, and is occasionally very funny. Oh, and its redeeming feature? You can change the colour of all of the characters' clothing. Naturally, everyone in my game is wearing pink.

If you're wondering what to wear with your scenic print item, try picking one of the scene's colours and work around that. For example, Izzy B. (top middle) has brought out the green of the grass with a skirt under the top. Though the green occupies a tiny part of the print, I think it's a vibrant and interesting colour to bring to attention. A plain jumper will help keep the attention on a scenic skirt, to which you can match in colour a necklace or belt to pull the ensemble together.

Wednesday, 10 April 2013

On Sunday, Ginge and I were in Liverpewl, being tourists. The first thing I did, coming out of Lime Street station, was walk in front of a bus. Fortunately, I survived the ordeal to take a lot of photos. My camera is so heavy I always feel like I need to take huge amounts of photos to make it worth my while. We walked round Liverpool One, Albert Dock, through Chinatown and visited both cathedrals. We also saw Liverpool's signature purple bins, just in case we were in any doubt of where we were!

I was taking a few surreptitious (and blurry) photos in the shop and the girl working there came up to me and I was convinced she was going to tell me off, but she was just asking where my leather jacket was from. Phew!

Monday, 8 April 2013

On Saturday I got screwed over by daylight saving time. I thought it was 5pm when it was 7pm. Consequently I completely missed Doctor Who so watched it on iPlayer afterwards, when I took a few screencaps.

The series opener was shockingly boring - no character development whatsoever - but the Rings of Akhaten was a little more watchable. The only commendable piece of writing was the concept of a lot of the past, but an infinity of the future. I liked that. Everything else was a bit meh.